The Russian Defense Minisry reported Tuesday that 2,100 members of militant groups had been killed in clashes with the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces in northern Hama.

The Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate, Colonel-General Sergey Rudskoy said that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nura, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and its allies had deployed some 10,000 fighters for their offensive in northern Hama which started on March 21.

Good news. Hopefully more then half of the terrorists or more will be destroyed before they can escape. This is a last gasp offensive of the terrorists from Idlib. Putting 10,000 terrorists into it means it is likely an all or nothing offensive for them. Hopefully the SAA wil take this opportunity to march all the way up to the border of Idlib at the minimum, now that there should be 10,000 fewer terrorists to defend Idlib.

Barba_Papa

I suspect these numbers are just as much inflated as the SAA losses that got posted by that Jihadi apologist who spammed here a couple of days ago. It would be great if it were true but it would be better to assume that truth is the first casualty in war.

Pavel Pavlovich

But if they lost only a quarter, that’s still 500 KIA. And many more wounded, I think.

AMHants

…The Russian General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate, Colonel-General Sergey Rudskoy said that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nura, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and its allies had deployed some 10,000 fighters for their offensive in northern Hama which started on March 21…

How many of them are foreign mercenaries and NATO specialists?

Attrition47

Nato terrorists, if you please.

goingbrokes

There is a great interview on 21st Century Wire (Sunday Wire episode #178) with a guy called Patrice, who is with Syrian Special Forces. An amazing view from the inside. Totally worth it. He speaks good English. He said that Al-Nusra fighters are the most highly trained. That probably means NATO.

AMHants

Thank you, I seriously like 21st Century Wire, because most of their articles are well informed and always bring something new to the narrative. Must pop over and have a look.

Prince Teutonic

They can afford to loose menpower since many rebels were “evacuated” to Idlib from West Ghouta, Wadi Barada and other places. This offensive was to be espected because SAA allowed groupation of terrorists in Idlib governorate. Hope after this offensive fails, SAA will have some peace to concentrate on ISIS destruction and after that mount a huge offensive on Idlibstan…